Astoria was ecstatic when she heard Harry asking Hermione if she wanted to spend some time with him. The annoying muggleborn witch was starting to get on her nerves, always throwing her dirty looks and hanging on Draco's arm. Maybe with her out of the picture for a few hours she could convince Draco that she was the better bet. No doubt Lucius and Narcissa disapproved of their son's choice of partner, whereas they would love for him to become involved with a pureblood like her.
Astoria's hopes of getting Draco alone soared even more when he told Hermione he would just head back to the cabin for a bit. Alone in a cabin she was convinced she could get the gorgeous blond into bed, but she wasn't sure how she was going to get into his cabin. Despite her best efforts Draco had so far remained uninterested in her, and Astoria wasn't confident in him inviting her into the cabin.
Luckily for Astoria the answer to her problem presented itself as the group settled down for a drink. Hermione placed her bag on the floor under the table, and promptly forgot about it as she chatted to the others. Astoria knew from the previous day that Hermione kept the key to their cabin in her bag, all she had to do was grab the key and go and wait for Draco to show up. Grabbing the key was pretty easy, Astoria just casually picked up Hermione's bag and rifled through it as everyone was busy chatting. When she had the key she left the bag on her seat as she followed Pansy and Ginny from the bar, no doubt the others thought she was going off to the spa with them.
With the key she'd nabbed, Astoria let herself into Draco and Hermione's cabin, making sure to leave the door unlocked as she shut it behind her. Since she wasn't sure how long she'd have until Draco showed up she decided to make herself comfortable. Kicking off her shoes she wriggled out of her tiny shorts and tight top, leaving herself in her skimpy black underwear. Astoria briefly debated whether to take her underwear off as well, but not wanting to appear too forward she left her bra and knickers on. She then hopped on the bed and settled back to wait for Draco to appear.
Astoria's wait was longer than she'd expected, but eventually she heard footsteps in the corridor outside. When the footsteps stopped outside the cabin she smiled seductively when the door started to open. However Astoria's smile soon dropped when the door opened fully and it wasn't Draco, it was Hermione.
"In the wrong cabin, are we?" Hermione questioned tightly. Even though she'd expected to find Astoria in the cabin, she wasn't very happy to see her lounging around in just her underwear.
"I was waiting for Draco." Astoria replied. "He asked me to meet him."
"Really?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at the blonde witch, totally amazed that she thought she could talk her way out of being caught trying to seduce Draco. "So, are you saying he gave you the key to the cabin?"
"Yes." Astoria lied. "He thought you were going to be busy with Harry."
"So while I was busy with Harry, he was going to be bedding you. Is that right?"
"I'm sure he was going to tell you about us sooner or later." Astoria smiled sweetly at Hermione.
"You must think I was born yesterday." Hermione chuckled as she advanced on Astoria. "Draco no more gave you the key than I did. You stole it."
"How dare you." Astoria huffed. "I did no such thing."
"You did. You stole the key and decided to wait here and try and seduce Draco." Hermione said. "I'm telling you now, it wouldn't have worked. If you couldn't get him into bed when he was dating you, what makes you think you can do it now? I can assure you, he doesn't need a cheap tart like you."
"I am not a cheap tart. I have more sex appeal than you." Astoria sneered at Hermione. "You must be a right bore in bed, you're certainly a bore everywhere else."
"Draco has no complaints." Hermione smirked.
"He'll not have any complaints when he beds me." Astoria retorted. "And he will bed me, it's only a matter of time. Before the end of the trip Draco will be mine, and there's nothing you can do about it."
"I wouldn't count on that." Hermione replied. Whirling around, she pulled out her wand and summoned Astoria's clothes to her.
"What do you think you're doing?" Astoria screeched when Hermione calmly walked over to the window and opened it.
"Getting rid of the trash." Hermione replied, before throwing Astoria's shoes and clothes out the window and into the sea.
"You demented bitch, those were mine." Astoria cried, jumping off the bed and running over to the window.
Before Astoria managed to reach the window, Hermione grabbed her wrist and yanked her in front of her.
"Unless you want to join your clothes in the sea, I suggest you leave." She hissed menacingly. "And you can keep your grubby little paws off Draco, he's mine. Do I make myself clear?"
"I'm not going to forget this." Astoria huffed as she pulled herself out of Hermione's grasp.
"Get out." Hermione ordered sternly.
Astoria took one final look at Hermione, before turning and fleeing the cabin. Hermione watched her go with an amused smirk, before she picked up the key that Astoria had left on the bedside table and left the cabin herself. Before heading back to Harry, Hermione stopped one of the staff on the boat and asked if they could do her a favour and change the bedding in her cabin. With Astoria now hopefully dealt with, Hermione headed back up on deck where she settled down for a nice long talk with Harry.
The casino evening was a big hit with everyone and all the passengers on board the boat were having a great time. Hermione and Draco were especially enjoying the evening, partly because Astoria had so far kept her distance from Draco, but mainly because they were just enjoying each other's company.
The evening had gotten off to a good start when Hermione had emerged from the bathroom in her long, emerald green evening gown. Draco had stared at Hermione for a long time before he regained his composure and said she looked gorgeous. Hermione was rather taken aback and thrilled by the compliment. It wasn't unusual for Draco to say she looked lovely or pretty, but he'd never called her gorgeous before. He also never looked at her with such blatant desire evident in his grey eyes.
Dinner was next and as usual the food was delicious, and the conversation flowed easily between everyone. The only slight disturbance was the dramatic entrance of Astoria, which occurred after everyone was already seated. Astoria herself didn't cause the commotion, but what she was wearing did. She was wearing a tight gold dress that was slit up to her thigh, it also plunged so far down her back that you could almost see the top of her bum and the front of the dress formed a v shape that ran all the way down to her navel. All in all she looked like a right tart with only a few strips of material covering her modesty. Astoria's father had been less than happy with his daughter's choice of dress, but she refused to change, claiming she didn't have anything else that was suitable.
Hermione was pleased to note that throughout dinner Astoria didn't pay too much attention to Draco. She occasionally shot longing looks in his direction but every time she spotted Hermione watching she glared hatefully at the older witch before turning her attention elsewhere. Unfortunately for Harry, Astoria was sitting next to him at dinner and her attention was firmly on him. Astoria spent almost the entire meal flirting with a clearly uninterested and slightly embarrassed Harry.
Hermione had to laugh when after dinner, as people were getting up to head to the casino, Pansy made a big show of grabbing onto Harry and giving him a deep kiss. Pansy then gave Astoria a glare that clearly said 'hands off my man', before her and Harry headed off to the casino arm in arm. Astoria was clearly intimidated by Pansy as after that she didn't look twice at Harry, instead her focus went onto Theo. At the casino she was all over Theo, despite Ginny being by his side practically the entire time. However it soon became clear to everyone that it was just a tactic to make Draco jealous. Despite flirting with another man, Astoria couldn't help but keep looking over at Draco, and she was unable to mask her disappointment when he wasn't paying her the slightest bit of attention.
Draco was fully aware of what Astoria was up to, but he was far too busy enjoying himself with Hermione. Hermione had never been to a casino before so Draco was taking her from table to table to teach her the basics of every game. Hermione was surprised to find that the vast majority of the games resembled muggle casino games, so she at least had a bit of basic knowledge of how some games worked. Even those that were totally alien to her, she picked up easily enough and within a few hours of being in the casino Hermione and Draco were gathering a decent amount of chips as they were winning quite regularly.
"I love this game." Hermione declared as she won yet more chips on roulette. "Do you think there's any casino's in Sydney?" She asked Draco as she scooped her chips up.
"I would have thought so." Draco answered. "Why?"
"I want to go." Hermione said, taking a large drink from her champagne glass. Champagne was available all over the casino, and the waiters that were carrying it around made sure everyone constantly had a drink of the bubbly liquid in their hands.
"I'm sure we can arrange that." Draco told Hermione as they made their way to the blackjack table.
"Excellent." Hermione grinned at Draco as she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a steamy kiss right in the centre of the casino.
Aware that everyone was watching them, and that Hermione was slightly tipsy, Draco kept the kiss as short as possible. When they parted he put his arm around Hermione's waist and the pair carried on to the blackjack table.
Instead of both playing separately, Hermione settled herself down on Draco's knee and they played together. Earlier in the evening, Hermione had been the one making the decisions in the game, and he was merely sitting with her, but now Hermione wasn't thinking clearly with all the champagne she'd drank and it was Draco that was playing the game. Not that he minded the role reversal, he was more than happy to play some blackjack while Hermione sat nuzzling at his neck.
Throughout the evening Draco couldn't help but notice that he and Hermione were the most tactile of all their friends. Draco almost constantly had his arm around Hermione, and when he didn't, she was holding onto him. Draco also noticed that apart from their heated kiss a few minutes earlier, they were acting no different from normal. All the touching and hugging was just a natural part of their friendship and it amused him that he and Hermione were more hands on in their friendship than their friends were in relationships.
As the evening progressed and Hermione continued to drink, Draco tried to persuade her to return to their cabin. Hermione however was having too much fun to leave, and she refused to head to bed until almost one in the morning. By that time she was swaying slightly on her feet and Draco had to keep a tight hold of her as they headed back to their cabin.
"This boat is rocking." Hermione giggled as she staggered around a corner, almost causing her and Draco to fall on the floor.
"It's not the boat, it's you." Draco chuckled. Hermione very rarely got drunk, but the odd times he'd seen her inebriated she'd been quite funny.
"No, it's the boat." Hermione insisted. "We're at sea you know, and the waves hit the boat making it rock."
"If you say so, sweetheart." Draco replied as they reached the cabin and he managed to open the door and manoeuvre Hermione inside.
"You called me sweetheart." Hermione smiled. "You love me."
"I love you more when you're not drunk." Draco said. "Now can you manage to get undressed, or do you need help?"
"I always knew you wanted to see me naked." Hermione laughed.
Draco rolled his eyes instead of replying. Chances were Hermione wouldn't really remember much in the morning, so there was no point in confessing how he really felt about her. What he needed to do was get her ready for bed and into bed without taking advantage of her in her intoxicated state.
"Come here." Draco gently pulled Hermione to him and turned her around. He then slid open the zipper on her dress and handed her the pyjama's that were sitting on the chair beside the bed. "Go and get ready for bed."
"Yes sir." Hermione giggled again, before walking very unsteadily to the bathroom.
Hermione was gone almost half an hour and just as Draco was going to check on her, she emerged from the bathroom. She was now ready for bed, and Draco helped her settle in before he made his own trip to the bathroom. When he returned to the bedroom, Hermione was sound asleep. Climbing into bed beside her, Draco placed a gentle kiss on Hermione's forehead, before settling down to sleep.